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MGoPodcast 14.26: That's Fair

MGoPodcast 14.26: That's Fair
BlueBarron April 3rd, 2023 at 7:00 AM

2 hours and 20 minutes

The Sponsors

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1. Michigan Spring Game - Offense

starts at 1:00

The spring game happened and most of the starters sat for most of it. JJ had one bad interception but otherwise looked like JJ. Tuttle looked pretty good, him and Davis Warren look at least ok. Apparently Alex Orji has a downfield passing game?? Seth's takeaway of the backup QBs was - let's not get JJ hurt. Ben Hall shined at running back and looked like he might get some legitimate carries this season, and especially in future seasons. Semaj Morgan might be a good end-around weapon. Frederick Moore was a steal. Former walk-on Peyton O'Leay looked like a guy and he made some plays, he out-muscled Amorion Walker on the two-point conversion. Loveland is the guy at tight end but he only played for a quarter (Jake Butt thinks they're alike). None of the transfer offensive linemen are on campus yet so Greg Crippen and Raheem Anderson played center - they both looked good. The guards are young but it's fine because Keegan and Zinter have those spots locked down. Tackle was a little bit concerning, they were letting guys through all day. Sherrone Moore seemed to have a really decent feel for play calling - an improvement over last year's spring game.

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

2. Michigan Spring Game - Defense and Special Teams

starts at 45:35

Everyone's number one player that they want to talk about is someone different. Kenneth Grant is one of them, he looked fantastic. Rayshaun Benny ran down a guy from behind. We are reminded that Jake Ryan wasn't thought of extremely highly for a while until he got a scholarship and shined in a spring game. Josiah Stewart looked alright, Derrick Moore looked like not-a-freshman. TJ Guy didn't play, he was injured and on a scooter during the day. We saw a lot of Ernest Hausmann, he was quick. He made a mistake by not dropping back when he was supposed to on a play but that's something that will get fixed. Something you might try this year is move Sainristil to corner and run some 4-3 against less passy teams. Michigan hasn't had a ball hawk safety in a while, maybe Zeke Berry can be that kind of guy, there's some potential there. We saw a lot of Keon Sabb, both good and bad, he's still a work in progress (probably a year away). Amorion Walker is a great athlete that can do everything, just need to teach him what to do. He's not there yet but by the Penn State game he should be matured. Who would you start as the 2nd cornerback right now? McBurrows? Tommy Doman looks pretty good at kicker and punter.

3. Hot Takes and Basketball Bits

starts at 1:28:12

Takes hotter than Seth's face trying to be Brian. How much would you have to pay Caitlin Clark to come to Michigan? There's a lot more parody in basketball this year, why is that? This Purdue team probably isn't a #1 seed in most other seasons. A lot of blue blood type teams are missing key pieces. Enter Nimari Burnett, exit Kobe Bufkin and Hunter Dickinson (this was recorded before the Bufkin news). In theory Michigan could match whatever offer anyone else is offering Hunter Dickinson but based on Juwan Howard's statement and player comments on social media, it feels like there's some closure there... How much do we get out of Papa Kante next season? How does Michigan get top guys out of the portal?

4. Michigan Hockey

starts at 2:05:35

Ok now for some good news. The interim tag officially comes off Brandon Naurato, the timing of this is interesting but here we are. Why did it take so long? We're curious to see how this changes the culture in the long term.

MUSIC:

  • "Words and Guitar"--Sleater Kinney
  • "3D Country"--Geese
  • "Really Really Light"--The New Pornographers
  • “Across 110th Street”

THE USUAL LINKS:

  • Helpful iTunes subscribe link
  • General podcast feed link
  • Direct download link
  • What's with the theme music

He started against Ohio State his freshman year. And beat them 42-27. Ohio State. I remember that. I think he also beat them the next year, too. 45-23. At Ohio State.

Wolverine 73

April 3rd, 2023 at 7:12 AM ^

I had noticed that there is a lot more parity in basketball this year.  The increased parody had escaped my attention.

In reply to I had noticed that there is… by Wolverine 73

Autostocks

April 3rd, 2023 at 7:48 AM ^

You didn't notice that Michigan was a parody of itself?

In reply to I had noticed that there is… by Wolverine 73

S.G. Rice

April 3rd, 2023 at 8:22 AM ^

The officiating certainly contributed to increased parody at times. 

In reply to I had noticed that there is… by Wolverine 73

bronxblue

April 3rd, 2023 at 9:22 AM ^

The parody also seemed to create a temporal vortex in which this podcast was recorded both before and after Kobe Bufkin announced his departure, a sort of laughable wormhole.

DT76

April 3rd, 2023 at 7:48 AM ^

Yup, proofreading delight.

Champeen

April 3rd, 2023 at 8:09 AM ^

My first and last basketball post about the transfers and what we have.

First impression - they are fucked.  Juwan is fucked.  We're all fucked.

But thinking about it deeper, it really is going to depend on who Howard lands in the portal (besides Burnett).  I think this team is going to be a lot better on the defensive side of the ball (it will be a shock to me if they do not take at least a moderate step down on the offensive end).  But they 'could' improve more defensively than they digress offensively.  'Could'.  Lets see who else they can nab.

This is going to be a year where we really see how good of a coach Howard is.  Beilein would shock the hell out of us with a shit roster.  The troll cannot do shit with an all-star roster, but turns shit rosters into gold many years also.  Let's see Howard coach this year. 

In reply to My first and last basketball… by Champeen

S.G. Rice

April 3rd, 2023 at 8:30 AM ^

The thing about basketball is that nobody knows how next year is going to look until the season tips off.  All the wailing and gnashing of teeth, the program is cratered, etc etc, half the roster hasn't even been set.  Anyone trying to project next season is flat out guessing -- remember how we were a top 10 team going into this past season, lol?

Juwan has a full plate.  He needs to figure out who is going to be here.  We may not be done with departures yet, need to hear from the NCAA on Baker and Llewellyn, need to bring in some guys via the portal.  Then he needs to figure out how those pieces fit together.  Construct a plan for how he's going to win with what he's got.

It'll definitely be a different team without Dickinson and obvious NBA talent but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be worse.  Is that possible?  Of course.  They may even be a lot worse.  But they could also be better.  More experience, better fits, different guys, a better coaching job.

In reply to The thing about basketball… by S.G. Rice

OldSchoolWolverine

April 3rd, 2023 at 11:44 AM ^

Burnett is the cover for Kobe, and now we wait who the transfer is to cover for Dickinson.  And YoYo is gonna be good, so we will be just fine.  Have faith in Juwan. 

In reply to My first and last basketball… by Champeen

stormhit

April 3rd, 2023 at 8:37 AM ^

One big thing I've learned this season is nobody really remembers what JB coached teams were like other than the wins and losses and vaguely that they shot a lot of threes, and they don't really look at what the current team is doing any further than W/L either.

In reply to My first and last basketball… by Champeen

Blinkin

April 3rd, 2023 at 9:43 AM ^

Somebody pointed out in the Hunter thread (and sorry I don't recall who) that KSU had a total of 1 player on the roster at one point during the offseason.  You really can just build a team out of nothing but transfers given the mass of activity in the portal.  So all hope is not yet lost, but Juwan is definitely going to have to nail some inbound transfers for next year to be anything but a disaster.

All that said, admissions needs to play ball, literally.  If Michigan admissions is going to keep screwing us out of Terrence Shannons, then there's going to be very little that Juwan (or any coach) can do in our brave new portal-centric world of CBB.

In reply to My first and last basketball… by Champeen

bronxblue

April 3rd, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^

The defense was actually decent in the second half of this season and while that's losing Bufkin and Dickinson there are the bones of a good defense here that could be successful especially in a Big 10 that isn't full of cracking offenses.  

Beilein needed to have a certain level of competency for his teams to really work, and if not they were all gas/no breaks and you had to live or die with how yours shot was that game.  I agree we'll need to see how a Howard team looks without an immediate offensive identity.  

In reply to My first and last basketball… by Champeen

True Blue 9

April 3rd, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^

Yea, I think I've accepted we're likely to look like a Rutgers team: good defense, kinda awful offense, win ugly, scrappy. I think the question is, will whatever next year looks like be enough to save Coach Howard and staff's jobs? TBD. 

In reply to My first and last basketball… by Champeen

AWAS

April 3rd, 2023 at 12:24 PM ^

There was something "off" about the team this year.  They just didn't function well together, and the whole was less than the sum of the parts.  Blowing it up is probably better than doing the same thing over next year hoping for a different result.  Either way, the forecast is "interesting times".

andyburdick72

April 3rd, 2023 at 8:26 AM ^

I have updated my 2023 MGoBlog music playlists with the songs from this episode - here are the links:

  • Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2023-mgoblog-music/pl.u-11z0ofMkqvL

  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2a7Hw0FHtgqw351LwW8wPz?si=8690043244a24050

Go Blue!

Hotel Putingrad

April 3rd, 2023 at 9:40 AM ^

Are we talking about bringing Caitlin Clark to Michigan's men's or women's team?

Because they could both use her.

Maybe they could share.

In reply to Are we talking about… by Hotel Putingrad

dragonchild

April 3rd, 2023 at 10:46 AM ^

She can shoot the 3 like nobody's business so if she so much as boxes out on a free throw she already makes the men's team better than Jett ever did.  But you know, you gotta ask why a woman who just played in the Finals would down-transfer to Michigan men's basketball.

As long as we're looking for a replacement for Jett, someone send a dump truck full of NIL cash to Keisei Tominaga.  We can at least make Michigan a greener pasture than Nebraska.

kyeblue

April 3rd, 2023 at 10:45 AM ^

Benjamin Hall reminds me of De'Veon Smith with possibly better vision.

In reply to Benjamin Hall reminds me of… by kyeblue

WFNY_DP

April 3rd, 2023 at 11:35 AM ^

Does that mean he can teleport through MORE defenses than just BYU's?

In reply to Does that mean he can… by WFNY_DP

Crime Reporter

April 3rd, 2023 at 2:15 PM ^

That clip still baffles me. Baffled me live, too.



This post first appeared on Mgoblog, please read the originial post: here

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MGoPodcast 14.26: That's Fair

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